


A Voicemail In the Afternoon

by mistress_of_mythology



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Hurt Mike, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mistakes, My First Work in This Fandom, Rating May Change, Voicemail, WIP, Work In Progress, harvey screws up, i have no clue how to write human interaction, im only at season 2, marvey end game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-14 13:03:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3411632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistress_of_mythology/pseuds/mistress_of_mythology
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>" So congratulations Mike you're my one failure. I hope you have a fun life of drugs and alcohol because that's all you'll amount to in life."</p>
<p>Mike had never been this late. Five to ten minutes tops. Not hours.<br/>Donna's worried. Harvey's pissed. <br/>In a fit of anger, harsh words are spoken that Harvey will come to regret.<br/>What happens when a voice mail gone wrong ends up on Mike's phone, and Mike ends up in the hospital? Was it truly an accident that put him there or something more sinister?<br/>Will he recover and if he does will he forgive the harsh words Harvey left on his voicemail?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I'm not even going to lie to you, I am horrible at writing human interaction. I'm god awful at it so please feel free to give me some tips. Also just a forewarning I am only up to season two, and I think I'm on episode two or three. I know a few things that happen in the rest of the seasons but not that much. So if it seems a bit rough with certain details pertaining to events that happen further on that would be why.

   Bright afternoon sunlight filter through the large windows of one Harvey Specter's office. On the streets down below twelve o'clock traffic slowly made its way through the busy New York Streets. Outside of the glass walls of Harvey's office Donna sat eating her lunch, trying but failing to pretend that she wasn't watching her boss closely. Down the hall hear Louis Litt was scolding one of the associates like they were a puppy who peed on the rug. Life as usual

But inside Harvey Specter's office, the best closer in New York sat seething, checking his watch every couple of minutes. Resisting the urge to bounce his foot in impatience. Jaw clenched, he reached toward the phone for what felt like the fiftieth time that morning.

Outside at her desk Donna winced as she watched him punch the buttons on the poor phone.

Mike was in so much trouble.

Inside Harvey's office he was once again listening to Mike Ross' voice mail telling him how he was so sorry to have missed him but to leave a message. The other five hadn't helped why would number six?

Irritation bubbling in his chest he gritted his teeth and stabbed at the end button, dropping the phone back to his desk with an angry thud.

His associate, this smart ass kid who knew exactly how smart he really was and how to use that to his own advantage, the one who Harvey saw a more than a little of himself in- though he'd never admit it- the one his had put everything on the line for, his job his life, was late. Again.

Now he's not talking late as in ten or fifteen minutes- oh no, no, no, Mike was over four hours late. And to top it off Harvey hadn't heard from him since the night before when the damn kid had promised that he would be on time for once in his life.

Harvey considered himself a lot of things but he knew one of those thing was never going to be patient, but he had given the kid a hundred chances and it felt like he'd let him down each and every time. So he had every right to the anger that burned in his chest.

And despite everything Harvey had done for the kid, Mike was ignoring his calls.

Donna had called. He, himself, had taken time out of his busy schedule and called! Hell if the kid didn't have a damn good reason for being so late and not answering the phone it would soon be HR calling to let him know he was fired.

Each time it had gone straight to voice mail, which told him that not only had Mike not shown up to work but he had known they would call and cut his phone off so that he didn't have to answer. Something that every associate knew not to due. You never know when you're needed at the office. There was no other explanation, Mike always answered his calls.

Anger boiled in his stomach as Harvey stood and crossed the room to stare down at the million dollar view of the city, his cell phone once again pressed to his ear.  
"Hi, you've reached Mik-"

Harvey hit end before he had to listen to that same damn message for the fifty first time and had to curb the urge to sling his phone.

"Maybe you should go to his place and check and make sure he's okay."Donna spoke, startling him.

Turning he saw her leaning against the door, arms crossed. A slight frown the only indication of the worry she felt.

She raised an eyebrow at him when he just looked at her.

"No," he said as he crossed over to his desk, shaking his finger, "No he is a grown man, a grown man who's screw ups I've had to fix multiple times by the way. He shouldn't need someone to come wake him up after a bender like he's a child. He should be responsible enough to come to work when he has to. Not only is he putting his own job at stake but he's also messing with mine, and I do not take kindly to being messed with."

"You seem to be forgetting that while he may have screw up from time to time he's also saved your ass on a few cases as well. Not only that, but he's the best damn associate this firm has, whether he went to Harvard or not." She whispered harshly as she closed the door in case anyone decided to eavesdrop.  
  
"He's four hours late, Donna. I should fire him. I am going to fire him. I'll have to because if I don't Jessica is going to get a hold of him"

Crossing over to him, she leaned on his desk frowning at him.

"That may be true but you could at least see if some thing's wrong. Mike has never been this late. And say you are right, then what? Are you going to, hire one of Louis' lackeys? The ones you swear can't find there way out of a wet paper bag with a map on a good day?" She asked, gesturing behind her to where they could see a curly haired associate getting chewed out by Louis for having just dropped a pile of files on the floor.

The boy looked close to tears as he scrambled to pick up the files.  
  
The scene gave Harvey little pause.

"Yes, because at least they're all too scared to be late or question me! Why are you defending him anyway?"

"Because he's good for you. He challenges you. He makes you better."  
  
"No he doesn't." He denied. "I'm Harvey Scepter, the best damn closer this city has ever seen with of without someone trying to give me a moral compass."

Donna gave him a dubious look that basically told him what she thought of that before picking up the phone he'd thrown down on his desk. She shoved it at his chest before walking away.

"Call again. If he doesn't answer, go find him."

He thought of making a comment about how he doesn't have to listen to his secretary and that he was the boss not her, but he decided against it- he knew it wouldn't be good for his health to make such a comment- and gave in and dialed Mike's number once again.

"Hi, you've reached Mike Ross. Sorry I missed your call, Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

The anger and irritation he had been feeling for the last few hours boiled over hearing that damn message played in his ear again and his self restraint snapped.

"Oh, you're sorry that you missed my call, are you!?" Harvey spit at the phone, acid coating his tone. "How's this for sorry? You're fired! Don't even bother coming to pick up your stuff, because while I'm sure there's nothing important there anyway, the firm will just have the crap shipped to you."

He gave a sharp laugh, "You know Mike, I have given you so many chances and one after another you have disappointed me like no other person I've ever seen! It's amazing! I've had people coming at me from left, right, and center telling me how I should fire you, that you'd never make the lawyer you have to be to survive in this firm but I have stood by you, let the fact that I put my job on the line for you cloud my judgment and ignored how much of a screw up you are. Hell, you couldn't even do a simple patent right! You like to rant on about how much I really care, but you couldn't even care a little about how much I've put of the line for you. And now? Now I'm done. I thought I could make something out of you but even the great Harvey Scepter must admit defeat on this one. So congratulations Mike you're my one failure. I hope you have a fun life of drugs and alcohol because that's all you'll amount to in life. And-"

"Harvey, enough!" Donna's voice came from the other side of the room.

Looking over, he found Donna staring at him horrified. Eyes wide, mouth agape, she looked at him as if she'd never seen him before.  
  
He looked back down at the phone, hitting end before looking back at her. He didn't need that to go on the voice mail.

"What?" He asked sitting down in his chair and dropping the phone.

His heart pounded and he felt lighter having gotten that off his chest, even if his stomach twisted in a way he was going to ignore.

Donna just stared at him for a minute opening and closing her mouth, at a lose for words.

"I-I have never heard you be so unnecessary cruel outside of the court room. This isn't some deal that you have to dog the clients to close, Harvey. This is Mike, someone until a few minutes ago I thought was your friend?"

"I'm not here to be the kids friend, I'm here to be his boss. And a boss would do exactly what I just did."

"No a boss would simply fire him. A boss wouldn't kick right where it hurts when he does it."

"If they were a lawyer they would, and I did."

"I never thought you were the bastard that everyone thinks you are, but in this instance, I think maybe I was wrong" She said quietly, shaking her head at him before going back to her desk, cursing the fact that you couldn't slam the doors in this office.

For the rest of the day Donna didn't talk to Harvey. She did her job like she normally would, bring him important files for the case he was working, directing his calls and the like but she would do so without the usual happy banter they shared. The only time she would speak to him was when she had to.

Harvey, himself, was growing frustrated.

Mike should have called back already. That had been the plan after all. Call Mike, make him feel guilty, have him call Harvey back to try and talk his way back in, and Harvey would. But not without a show of reluctance. He'd work out a way to keep this from getting to Jessica later. Or so he told himself after he thought back on everything he said.

Thinking about it, he realized that Donna was right and no matter what Mike had going on the kid would always answer his phone when Harvey called, and he never usually turned his phone off. It was strange.

Harvey was just getting ready to cave and head over to Mike's house when the phone rang, caller id letting him know it was Mike.

He glared at the screen before answering it. So the kid had been ignoring them. And here he was beginning to worry.

"I thought I pretty much made myself clear about you not contacting me again. You see that's what you do when you get fired. You don't contact your old boss."

"I'm sorry sir, but do you happen to know a Mike Ross?" Came the voice across the phone, which was definitely not his associates.

"...Yes?"

"While it sounds like you're not very happy with him at the moment, I am legal obligated to inform anyone in the emergency contacts of his phone that he has been in an accident and is in the hospital. Do you happen to know anyone else that we should inform sir?"

Shock struck through him. Of all the possible reasons for Mike to have been late, this wasn't one he had considered.

"What do you mean he was in an accident? When?"

The word accident had Donna out of her seat and into the room in no time flat. Sometimes he was extremely thankful she always listened in because he didn't think he could listen to the person on the other end of the line. The only thing he could hear was the ringing in his ears and the suddenly loud sound of his own heart.

Thankfully Donna grabbed the phone before it could slip through his hand.

An accident, oh God the things I said on his voice mail. Harvey thought to himself. What if he had heard it and came rushing to the office? What if he was dying? What if those were the last words he heard from Harvey? No you can't think like that. Think positively he's in the hospital he's not dying, he just got hurt and wasn't able to call. Oh God. Of all the possibilities, all the circumstances, Mike being hurt so badly that he couldn't call them and let them know was never an option in his brain.

Guilt and panic seized in his chest.

The next few minutes passed without him paying any attention to what Donna was saying to the person on the phone.  
  
It seemed like hours had passed when a hand waved in front of his face a few times and Donna's worried voice filled his ears.

"Harvey? Harvey?!" She repeated shaking his shoulder, but couldn't get him to focus on her.

He finally came back to himself when she slapped him across the face.

"Wha- You hit your boss, I could fire you for that." He sputtered the first thing that came to mind.

She took the time to glare at him before speaking.

"Yeah you've been real good at that lately. Listen-" She said as he went to interrupt, "Mike has been in an accident, a car hit him on his way to work this morning- We all knew that bike was dangerous. He's alive but there not to sure how long that will last, the doctor said that the only thing he could tell me was that Mike's in really bad shape."

"How long has he been there? What hospital is he in?" He asked as the need for action hit him and he jumped up, grabbing his things, calling for Ray to be there when he got to ground level.

Donna rattled off the information as she hurried to keep up with his trek to the elevator.

He had just pushed the button when Donna called his name, bringing his attention back to her.

"Harvey, if he survives this you're going to have a lot of explaining and apologizing to do when he hears that voice mail." She looked unsympathetic as she said it. He knew she wouldn't be forgiving him any time soon. He couldn't say he blamed her.

"I know," He told her as the elevator doors closed.


	2. An Accident

  Mike was a heavy sleeper. Always had been, always will be.

This lead to him almost always being late to work. He had lost track of how many times he had sleep right through his alarm, only to be woken up a few minutes later by his super shaking his shoulder having let himself in after getting no answer at the door, yelling at him about complaints from the neighboring tenants.

Harvey had complained about him being late almost every single day and so when his boss had sat him down for a serious talk about being on time the night before, he had made a point to go by the store and pick up the loudest possible alarm clock he could find to replace his least than stellar phone alarm.

He also made a point of setting both of them for two hours before he had to go in, just in case.

It gave him an hour to get ready and an hour to make it into the office. Because it seemed like trying to get there with in thirty minutes wasn't working to well on his bike.

So with all that in mind he went to sleep hoping that he wouldn't be late again.

He wasn't scared of Harvey per say. His lectures were kind of annoying and long, and made him feel kind of like a scolded puppy, but altogether? Not terrifying. He was actually more afraid of disappointing him than anything.

Jessica on the other hand? Frightened the living hell out of him. Not that he would show it because then Harvey would mock him to no end, even if he knew anyone in their right mind should be scared of that woman.

No, Jessica had the power to fire him and ruin everything that he and Harvey had worked to put to together.

Sure Harvey threatened to fire him every other hour but statistically speaking? He had saved his ass more times than not. And while Mike would bitch and moan at the things Harvey has him do, in the end he had even him an opportunity he never thought he would get again and he was thankful.

Was he going to tell Harvey that? Hell no. But he was going to try and be more on time to keep Jessica from riding their asses anymore than usual.

So at the crack of dawn, when his heart nearly jumped out of his chest in shock of not one but two alarms going of in his ear and he fell off the bed in a pile of blankets and flailing limbs, he tried not to let frustration creep in.

Because the sound of that ear splitting beeping? Yeah, he's pretty sure that it just gave him a heart attack, not to mention a busted ear drum.

He took a few minutes to get his heart and breathing back under control before he carefully untangled himself from his mountain of blankets and slowly went about getting ready.

Though he hated having been startled out of sleep so badly he did like that he was able to take more time to shower and get dressed. Hell looking at the clock he was able to take enough time to eat a bowl of cereal before he left.

But for the time that he had gained, he also lost some getting his bike out of the building. The extremely cramped stairwell made maneuvering with bike down the stairs a living hell and he still hadn't found a good way to do so. So each morning was a struggle.

When he had finally wrangled his bike down the stairs and to the street he was about five minutes late to his early start so he quickly hopped on and started making his way to the office.

When he had explained to Harvey that getting his bike down the stares took so much time was one of the reasons he was always late the man had told him to just leave the damn thing outside.

Mike had been very polite when he replied that if Harvey wanted to buy him a new bike everyday, he would be glad to leave his bike out in that neighborhood.

The smile that had formed at the memory of Harvey's very blunt reaction was ripped from his face as something solid and unforgiving connected with his leg and suddenly he was in the air.

A sickening crunch made his stomach lunge into his throat for a second, that had to have been his leg. But that couldn't be right. He couldn't feel any pain in that leg, or anything really.

He had only a millisecond to panic about that before his body came down violently on the windshield of the car. Distantly he felt a pain shoot through his everything before the momentum of the car threw him back again.

The next thing he knew his body was connecting with unforgiving ground as the car didn't even slow down as it took a turn as if it hadn't just mauled his body.

He got a vague look at the car taking out the stop sign before the pain of all the hits came screaming home.

The sudden impact of sensation took his breath away as he involuntarily let out a choked sob.

Nothing after that registered. It was all he could do to force air through his lungs. He couldn't move his leg. He wished he could keep the rest of him from moving with his the sobs that wreck through him. That sickly sweetly scent you get when you move to quickly poured itself on to his senses, bringing around yet another unwelcome sensation. Nausea. His lungs fought around the sobs to get oxygen into his body, but it didn't feel like enough.

It all became to much when he felt someone trying to get his attention by touching his shoulder. The littlest of thing pushing him over the edge. He was grateful, and went willing into the arms of unconsciousness.

If he had been on for the lookers on he would be making a case against the driver. Because something all the people around agreed to was Mike had been on the sidewalk, the car never slowed down and almost seemed to mean to hit him, and that the person never even looked back or paused in their get away.

If Mike had been a witness, he would swear that this was a hit. He would swear someone was gunning for him.


	3. A Proxy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a build up chapter with more thoughts than real hard plot.

 It was slightly overwhelming when Harvey got to the hospital. He knew that all he had to do was go up and ask to see Mike but he also knew that he would probably have a fight on his hands to actually do so.

Most hospitals had a family only policy and he knew most likely he wouldn't be aloud back there.

So he as stood at the front desk waiting for the admissions lady to be done with the person in front of him, he watched the goings on around him, trying to think up a way to get them to let him back to see Mike.

Nurses walked by at a fast pace, charts in hand calling for whichever patient was next, some pushing patients in wheelchairs. He could hear someone coughing and light chatter coming from the general area of the waiting room.

It was a whole muddle of noise and activity around him as he thought about what to do.

Being a lawyer, he knew for a fact that the doctors couldn't tell him jack shit about Mike's condition. And if Harvey tried to talk the doctors out of information they couldn't give, they would be quick to point out that he was a lawyer and there would be no way in hell they were going to break HIPPA law at all, let alone in front of a lawyer.

So when it was finally his turn to talk to the admissions lady at front desk of the emergency room and ask about Mike, he didn't really expect to get any answers about his condition other than whether he was alive or not.

Hell, he didn't even expect to be able to see Mike until he was released.

He couldn't claim to be the kid's lawyer needing to speak to his client about his care because it was obvious the kid was either unconscious or not coherent enough to call Harvey to let him know about the accident himself, let alone call for an attorney.

He wasn't family. Mike's only family was over eighty and in a nursing home, and Harvey had no clue if they had even called the woman. And if they had and she'd made it there, Hervey wouldn't recognize her because he had never met the woman.

Sure he had done a thorough back ground check on both Mike and his family but a picture of the woman later than the 1980's never crossed his desk.

So no he didn't have a plausible plan to find out about Mike anytime soon, and was trying to ignore the tightness in his chest at the aspect.

He couldn't really talk his way to what he wanted this time. But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to try.

"How can I help you sir?" The pretty blonde nurse asked looking up at him, as he took the place of the person who just left.

"I'm here to see Mike Ross. I got a call half an hour ago that he was in an accident." There. That might be vague enough to maybe suggest that he was suppose to be privy to the information.

"Okay sir, what's your name and relation to the patient?" she asked looking down at her computer typing something.

"Harvey Specter, I'm his boss." Harvey reluctantly told her, knowing that he was about to be told he wouldn't be able to see his associate.

The woman pulled something up on her screen before surprising him by standing and gesturing for him to follow her.

"I'll take you back to his room now, please follow me sir."

It shocked him but he certainly wasn't going to open his mouth if he was able to see Mike.

"Mr. Ross came in about six hours ago, he was involved in a hit and run. He's in pretty bad shape." She told him as he followed her through the emergency room to the elevator.

"Where are we going? He's not in the emergency room?"

"The ICU, as I said Mr. Ross is in bad shape and right now he's in surgery." She said pushing a button that he didn't pay attention to.

Lightening could have struck him at that moment and it wouldn't have made a difference.

At hit and run, surgery. Jesus, this is horrible. But at least he's alive. That's all that matters, He thought.

His legs were weak but Harvey refused to focus on anything but the important information.

"Surgery? What kind of surgery?" He demanded as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"When he got hit his rib broke and punctured his lung. They're fixing it now. I don't know when he'll be out of surgery but you're welcome to wait in his room until he's out and you're able to talk to the doctor." With this she lead him into a room that looked way too empty without it's patient and Harvey fought to keep a swell of panic at bay. Because this? This was worse than anything he had imagined on the way here.

The nurse told him that if he had any questions to go to the nurses station and they would answer them the best they could, but for the time being there would be little information until he got out of surgery.

He had forgotten that he shouldn't be getting any information about this until she brought that up.

"Wait," he called as she went to walk away. "I shouldn't be allowed back here, I'm not family. You shouldn't be telling me anything."

The nurse raised a well kept eyebrow before walking over to the computer in the corner of the room and pulling something up.

After finding what she needed she turned back to him, one hand on her hip the other pointing to the screen.

"Says here that he made you his medical proxy about four months ago. It seems that a doctor thought Mr. Ross' grandmother wasn't in condition to be able to make decisions if it came to it. Heart problems that stress and shock could make worse. When asked who would be able to make these calls, he must have named you."

Harvey could say he was shocked but at the moment, on top of Mike being in surgery and him being the one that would have to make any decision, he felt a numb.

Seeing the look on his face the nurse gave him a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder before leaving him to his thoughts.

There were more important matters to worry about but the thing that his mind was focusing on the most was the fact that while Mike was in surgery fighting for his life Harvey had been on the phone doing his best to make sure Mike would wish he wasn't even born by the time he got done listening to that message. And Mike, his puppy eyed associate had trusted him enough to put his life in his hands if it came down to it.

It made his heart ache.

Guilt eat at him as he leaned forward in his chair, rubbing at his eyes as if he were tried. Lying to himself that his eyes weren't burning. Telling himself he wasn't going to think about what all could go wrong.

Because despite saying that he was nothing but Mike's boss, he had grown fond of the associate.

And that was the kicker wasn't it. Because while Mike and him may have always been friendly, joking around, throwing out movie quotes, and pretty much just snarking at each other, Mike would seem to just be his associate.

Sure they were friends, but outside of work they had never hung out. Their whole friendship was centered around the office. And at the office Harvey road Mike's ass about every little thing. They were never on even ground. But Mike had still considered them friends enough to make Harvey his medical proxy.

And Harvey? Had screw up so bad. Not only as Mike's boss, but as his friend.

Harvey pulled his phone out of his pocket, slowly searching for the right number before hitting call.

It rang two times before it was picked up.

"Hello?"

"I screwed up. I really screwed this up, Donna."

   

 


	4. A Choice

   

Donna was quiet on the other end of the phone for a second before she finally spoke.  
  
"No shit, Sherlock. But that doesn't matter at the moment. What's going on with Mike? Have they let you back to see him? Is he okay? The person who called couldn't tell me more than that he was alive and that he had been hit by a car. Were you able to pry anymore information out of them? Do you know if the person has been arrested?" Donna fired questions at him left and right her tone sharp with an undercurrent of worry.

Harvey rubbed at his eyes trying to answer her question as best he could with what little information he had.

"It turns out the kid made me his medical proxy so I was able to find out a bit more but not too much, I'm in his room in the ICU waiting for him to get out of surgery. When the car hit himit punctured his lung. They're trying to fix it now. I'll have wait till he's out of surgery to find out what all is wrong. I don't know yet if the punctured lung is the worst of it or not. I have to wait to talk to the doctor. As for the other person the nurse told me it was a hit and run. I swear to God Donna if I ever get my hands the asshole who did this there will be nothing left but dust when I'm done with him. "

"You'll have to get in line. What kind of person do you have to be to drive away when the person you hit could be dying?"

Harvey didn't have the answer for that, so he remained quiet.  
  
The other side of the phone was silent too for a while leaving him to look around the room, something he had neglected to do before and he regretted doing it now because the minute he looked at a small cabinet in the corner he felt like he was going to be sick.

Blood clung to the surface cracked watch face that lay a top the shoes that just last week Harvey was scolding him for wearing. He had told them that they had obviously been from a department store and Pearson-Hardman material did not wear shoes from a department store. Those were laying beside the messenger bag that Mike always had with him instead of getting a brief case. That was all he could see from his vantage point but the blood on the watch was enough to make his stomach turn.

There was a reason Harvey was no longer worked on cases with violent crime. He had a weak stomach and that was made ten times worse knowing that it was Mike's blood. His breath hitched and felt fought down a wave of nausea.

"Harvey? Harvey!" Donna shouted in his ear. It sounded like this wasn't the first time she had tried to get his attention.

"They left his stuff in the room."

"Well yes, they have to it's his personal belongings."

"I know but...his watch is just laying there, covered in blood...and..he was bleeding Donna." He didn't sob out this last part. He might have if he wasn't so much in shock.

"...That's what happens when you get into an accident, Harvey." Donna voice softened a little from the sharpness she had taken with him since they got the call.

"While I cutting him down in my voice mail, firing him and basically tell him that he would never amount to anything and that he was the worst mistake I ever made, he was bleeding. He was bleeding while I was doing my best to cut him to the quick. What am I going to do?" He asked into the phone staring at Mike's stuff.

There was a pause.

"Yeah he was and you did. I'm not going to sugar coat this for you Harvey. I'm pissed at you and don't have the time to hold your hand and make you feel better about what you said because that's not what's important at the moment. Mike is in the hospital, fighting for his life and he needs his friend. So right now that's what your going to be. When he gets out of surgery you are going to be there be there for him as his friend and when he get better enough to check his phone you are still going to be there. You are going to do your damn best to reassure him that you didn't mean anything you said and that you were very much in the wrong and that you understand if he doesn't want to work with or even see you again. And on the off chance he does still want to talk to you, you're going to treat him a hell of a lot better. What might save your ass with Mike, if he gives you even the slightest time of day is that the kid has always believed you cared one way of another. If your lucky maybe he'll be forgiving enough to see how worried you are and that you didn't mean what you said. Until that happens though, Harvey? Don't screw up any worse than you have. Now I'm going to hang up with you, I expect to be updated when Mike gets out of surgery. Don't do anything stupid."

With that she hung up on him leaving him more alone and feeling like he was drowning in guilt.

Because she was right. Right now worry about how in the hell he's going to fix his mistake is not what he needs to be doing. He needs to be worrying more about how Mike is doing and if he's going to be okay. It occurred to him that till that moment he hadn't really been worrying about it. It sounded horrible, and it was. But he was just so used to having Mike around that it hadn't completely registered that Mike might not make it, that he might be hurt beyond repaired. Chills went through him at the thought. He wanted to storm the halls and scream at the doctors to fix it. Maybe throw some money or threaten a law suit if Mike didn't turn out to be okay and he couldn't. None of that would help.

In that moment he felt helpless.

Harvey hadn't realized he had been staring at the blood coated watch for a long time until he felt himself push up from his seat and make his way over to Mike's things.

Slowly making his way toward the pile didn't make it any easier to see it up close.

The pile wasn't too big. The watch, Mike's shoes, and his messenger back that he had already saw. The messenger bag looked like it was over stuffed, probably with files Harvey had complained about needing first thing that morning, which is probably why Mike's wallet and phone were tucked into his shoes, the watch laying on top of the wallet. Harvey knew that whatever clothes Mike had been wearing were probably taken by the police as evidence to if they could get anything off of them.

Looking down at the phone tucked away he tried to not think about what he had done and focus on being there for Mike.

He had been staring at the phone for who knows how long deep in thought when he heard the door slide open.

Turning quickly he saw two nurses and a man in a white lab coat and green scrubs pushing a hospital bed that held a fragile looking Mike.

Seeing Mike laying there really rang home how close Mike had been to losing his life.

Mike had always been skinny but now in the hospital gown he looked like a stiff wind could blow him away, and he was ghostly pale except for the bruises that had already started to form. The man looked horrible. His forehead was bandage and Harvey was glad that he couldn't see the wound that was there. Mike's left wrist and leg were wrapped in bulky case that only made him look smaller. Harvey's stomach churned looking at him.

Harvey resisted the urge to run over to them and demand to know everything. But just barely. He waited, impatient as they situated the bed in the middle of the room, hooked up to a machine, poked him with an IV and the doctor checked over Mike's chart, writing something down.

Once he was done with that he looked up, and noticed Harvey standing there for the first time.

Walking over to shake his hand the doctor introduced himself, "Hello I'm Dr. Jameson, and you would be?"

"Harvey Specter, I'm Mike's boss and his medical proxy." He said shaking the doctor's hand. "How's he doing doc?" Harvey asked moving over to stand by Mike's side.

He gently touched the case on Mike's wrist, careful to keep his touch light.

"At the moment he's stable, but when he first got here he was unconscious and hasn't woken up yet. He suffered from a broken wrist and leg as you can tell. He also has several cracked ribs. One of his lungs was punctured in the accident and we had to operated as soon as we could. It was touch and go in the operating room, he's heart stopped but we were able to get it beating again quickly. We're lucky he wasn't hurt worse than this. We did a brain scan first thing after he got out of surgery and we couldn't find anything wrong there so that's extremely promising. Right now we have him on morphine. We don't know when he'll wake up. Usually it's about an hour or two after surgery but with his injuries and him not having woken up since he got here it could be longer." The doctor told him.

"He almost died on the table?" Harvey choked out, heart pounding

"Yes, but we were able to act quickly enough and save him."

That didn't make it any better but at the moment he just wanted to be alone with Mike so that he can reassure himself that Mike was still here,

"Thank you doctor, I'm going to stay here with him until he wakes up." His tone booked no argument but the doctor spoke again anyway.

"You can stay until visitation hours end. If he wakes up please grab a nurse and have them page me." The doctor told him before walking out and sliding the privacy curtain and the glass door shut.

Harvey grabbed the chair he had been sitting in and pulled it over to Mike's side.

Slumping into the seat he didn't take his eyes away from Mike as he watched the kid's chest move with his breathing.

A sense of relief washing over him with every breath he saw.

"Almost lost ya kid."

He carefully took Mike's hand. He sat there for God knows how long just holding Mike's hand and listening to the machine in the corner beep with his heartbeat.

How ever long later he remembered he had promised to call Donna when he found more about Mike.

Pulling his hand away from Mike he grabbed his phone and called Donna's cell phone.

"How's he doing?" She asked as soon as she answered the phone.

"He's alive. But just barely...they lost him on the operating table but were able to save him.

"Oh god." She choked out.

"He's sleeping now. The doctor said he's been unconscious ever since he got here. He has a broken wrist and leg. He also has a few cracked ribs. They said it's lucky that he isn't worse off."

"They don't call that worse?"

"I don't want to know their definition of worse."

Donna muttered an agreement.

"I think I'll let you go. I'll call you if he wakes up."

"Damn right you will."

"I'll talk to you later."

"Bye"

"Bye."

Harvey as putting his phone back in his pocket when a voice came from above him.

"Wazzat Donna?" Mike slurred, squinting at Harvey.

Harvey sprung to his feet. Relief and happiness coursing through him.

"Mike! Thank God. I'm gonna go get the doctor."

By the time Harvey had gotten the doctor Mike was struggling to sit up.

The doctor put a hand on his shoulder.

"You need to lay back son, take it easy. My name is Doctor Jameson, and I'll be looking after you. Please follow this light with your eyes and tell me your name, the date and where you are?"

Mike squinted eye following the light.

"Mike Ross, and it's like, what March 12th? And the Hospital. You're a doctor you should know that. You're stupid." Mike slurred trying to glare at the doctor.

Harvey tried not to burst out laughing.

The doctor didn't.

"You're right, I should know that." The doctor said chuckling.

"Now Mike do you know why you're in the hospital?"

Mike was quiet for a few seconds, brow furrowed.

"It's okay if you can't, some patients aren't able to remember what happened to put them in the hospital." The doctor said soothingly.

"All I can remember is something hitting me and a crunch."

"Well it may be a good thing you can't remember everything and just being hit. You were hit by a car this morning. You were unconscious when the paramedics got to the scene."

Mike's eyes widened.

"No one else was hurt were they?" He asked concern leaking into his voice as he became more lucid.

The doctor exchanged a look with Harvey before turning back to Mike.

"No Mr.Ross no one else was hurt. It was a hit and run."

Mike didn't react all that much to that.

Harvey didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing but before he could really determine either way the doctor was called in a nurse who asked Mike questions and helped run tests.

This took the better part of an hour before the doctor was satisfied.

Before he left the room he reminded Harvey that visiting hours ended in thirty minutes.

Harvey just scowled at him.

Once the doctor had left he and Mike sat there in silence for a while.

"Harvey?" Mike asked, his voice hesitant.

"Yeah?"

"You're not mad at me right?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Harvey asked shocked.

He stared at Mike as the kid tried to get his thoughts organized

"It's just I'm always late and you tell me that there's no excuse that makes that okay. And just yesterday I told you I would be on time and look what happened. I screwed that up. And you had to find out about being my medical proxy which isn't probably something you wanted or expected. I mean who has there boss as their medical proxy? And-" He went to say more but Harvey cut him off.

"Hey! This is not your fault, it's that asshole who decided to hit you. And I'm happy to be your medical proxy because it would drive me insane to know that I wasn't allow to know what happened to you. And people who are as much as friends to their boss as they are an employee. So no I'm not mad at you. I'm pissed at the guy who did this to you and if I ever get my hands on him there won't be much left. But at you? No, I couldn't be made if I wanted to."

Mike let out a relieved sigh.

"Good. I don't know what I'd do if you were mad at me."

"Well, don't worry about it."

Mike laughed a little before clutching at his ribs and telling Harvey not to make him laugh.

They fell back into silence after that.

It wasn't long until Harvey started to hear quiet snores coming out of Mike and he laughed because of course Mike would snore.

A nurse poked her head in a little while later to tell him that visiting hours were up in five minutes.

Harvey had scowled at the idea but told her he would be out of her hair in a minute.

She stared at him of a minute before leaving again.

Harvey took a second to think about what he and Mike had talked about before standing softly ruffling the kid's hair, careful not to wake him up.

He left the room a few minutes later a heavy weight in his chest.

Harvey grabbed a cab home instead of calling Ray. It was late and he didn't want to pull him away from his family.

He waited till he got home to call Donna and let her know that Mike had woken up and that the doctor had said that he was doing fine so far.

After he had gotten off the phone with her, not with out being yelled at for not calling her sooner mind you, he sat down on the couch and examined the heavy feeling in his chest.

He knew it was a stupid idea. That he should let whatever happens happen.

But as he thought about his conversation with Mike earlier, he knew he couldn't let words he had said in the heat of the moment over a voice mail hurt the kid after how worried he had been that Harvey was mad at him over something that wasn't his fault.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out Mike's phone and stared down at it.

He wouldn't let him hear that voice mail.


	5. Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned you. I am horrible at writing human interaction.

Come morning Harvey was tired as hell.

He had spent most of the night trying to figure out Mike's pass code.

He had given himself a migraine thinking about the many combinations it could be.

He didn't know why he had thought that it would be easy to get into the phone. He should have known that Mike would have a pass code. He hadn't even thought of it when he had taken the phone last night. He was only thinking about erasing the voice mail so Mike didn't get hurt by what he had said. So he spent the night trying to guess the pass code.

He had been praying that it was only a four digit code and not an extremely long one.

Though he'd doubted it. He vaguely remembered Mike complaining about the other associates messing with his phone a couple of months ago and Harvey was pretty sure that Mike had said something making it impossible for them to mess with it again.

And knowing Mike, the kid had probably done just that and had made his pass code as long as possible. After all he would have no problem remembering it.

So Harvey kind of knew that a four digit code was a long shot. And to make it even more frustrating, there were 10,000 possible codes to choose from.

Harvey had been seriously hoping that the rookie went with something that had meaning to him.

Maybe Mike's birthday, his parents birthday, or his grandmothers. A variation of those numbers.

Of course by the time he had exhausted all those options, he'd locked himself out for the next twenty four hours. So if he wanted to try again, he'd have to wait till then and hope that Mike hadn't gone with something more complex.

If he had, Harvey was screwed. Hell, he was already screwed

Say he was able to get into the phone, then what?

He'd have to figure out the voice mail password. Because he knew Mike wouldn't use the same password twice. That memory of his made it possible for him to have a hundred passwords.

Needless to say, after he had gotten home last night and had actually started to think about what he had done he felt extremely stupid. He should have just left the phone there and faced whatever Mike had to throw at him once the kid had heard the voice mail.

He hadn't been thinking too clearly at the time. His plan had been to get the phone erase the voice mail and then get the phone back in place before it could be missed. It wasn't a very thought out plan.

So after a night of trying every code he could think of and thinking over all his options he finally came to a decision as the sun was coming up over the horizon.

With a plan in mind he went about getting ready like he normally would, not letting himself think of what would happen if it went wrong.

If it did he'd be in more hot water with Mike than he already was.

Once he finished his morning routine he called Ray to come pick him up.

He made sure he was firmly in the moving car he before told Ray not to take him to work today, that he would be spending his day with Mike. Harvey didn't trust himself not to back out.

The driver had given him a look but said nothing as they made their way to the hospital.

When he got to the hospital he forced himself to put one foot in front of the other.

He felt all out of sorts. Harvey was so use to being in control and being able to manipulate a situation to fit his needs.

He almost felt like he normally did when on the rare occasion he knew he wasn't going to win a case.

Reluctant. Frustrated. A bit angry that there was nothing more he could do.

He could keep the phone. But that would raise questions about where the thing had went, and that would only cause more fuss than necessary and that was the last thing he needed.

So as he headed toward Mike's room, he tried not to let it all get to him. That would be his down fall.

He had a plan and that plan needed to work perfectly.

It was simple. He could do it.

He would go in, keep Mike company, talk to the doctor. Everything he would be doing if he didn't have the phone. Only once Mike went to sleep, or maybe had to go have an x-ray done of his ribs and lungs he would put the phone back where he found it and hope to God Mike hadn't already looked at his stuff.

He keep a calm face as he walked into Mike's room. He could act normal. He was a lawyer, damn it and he wasn't going to give himself away by letting any guilt show on his face.

But once he was in the room he found not only Mike and the doctor but also a police officer were deep in conversation.

His heartbeat picked up before he could force himself to think rationally.

Logically he knew that the officer was just there to get Mike's statement but he couldn't help thinking about how he was standing there with a- however temporally- stolen phone weighing his pocket down.

The bit of panic he felt wasn't rational. But was there anything he'd said or done in the last twenty four hours that had been?

He knew it was the guilt muddling his brain but that didn't stop his body from reacting to his increased nervousness.

Mike looked up when he finally noticed Harvey in his peripheral vision.

Mike waved Harvey over, thankfully not noticing his panic, and went back to his conversation with the officer.

Making his way over, Harvey focused all his attention on what they were talking about, putting his guilt aside.

"'re I was on the sidewalk. I always ride on the sidewalk. I don't trust anyone to watch out for a guy on a bike. Especially in New York. The traffic's madness around here." Mike was saying as Harvey stopped by his side.

Hearing the topic Harvey let his brain shift into lawyer mode. He could talk business. He wanted to crush whoever did this to Mike.

"Yeah, the witnesses we talked to said that you weren't anywhere close to being out in the middle of the road. We're pulling the street cameras footage from yesterday. They might have caught a license plate number..." The officer hesitated for a few seconds. The man was big and burly, he looked like the type of man who was all business and didn't put things lightly.

"There's more." Harvey spoke up, staring at the officer. He didn't know what more there could be but he needed to know what it was.

The officers eyes cut to him before looking back at Mike who had also noticed the hesitation.

"I'm not certain how accurate their reports are but most of witnesses say that the car that hit you was going at least fifty miles an hour and didn't slow down at all when it hit you or after. It could mean they were drunk or-"

"They purposefully hit him." Harvey cut him off, disbelief filling him.

Because the idea seemed crazy.

It seemed impossible! While things like this happened a lot more often than one would think, he couldn't believe someone would go after Mike.

He knew Mike had some enemies but did he have any willing to try and kill him?

The officer finally gave Harvey more than just a glance and focused all his attention on him.

"Yes. And you are?" The officer asked raising an eyebrow.

"Harvey Specter, Mike's boss and personal friend. I will also be representing him once you catch whoever did this." He said holding his hand out to shake the officer's hand.

Mike sputtered something about being about to represent himself and billables but Harvey didn't really pay any attention and just focused on what the officer had to say.

If Mike really thought that Harvey would charge him for it then he wouldn't respond to such an idiotic remark.

However, he would address the fact that Mike ever consider that Harvey would charge him for something like that sometime in the future though.

The officer also paid no mind to Mike's protesting.

"It could have been on purpose but we won't know for sure until we can look at the footage. It's highly unlikely. You know what they say about witnesses being unreliable."

Harvey nodded along, "Well that being said, I would like a copy of the tape once you looked over the footage. I need to know everything involving my client." Harvey told him, his tone implying it wasn't a suggestion.

"I'll see what I can do." The officer said, eyes narrowed, before turning to Mike.

"And if we find something we'll let you know. If it does turn out to be more than an accident you may have to be careful about where you go and what you do until we catch whoever did this. We'll let you know but until then it may be good to err on the side of caution." He gave Mike a pat on his uninjured shoulder, before heading toward the door.

"I'll be in contact. And I'll be sure to check into where your phone got to. I'm sure one of the newbies misplaced it." He called over his shoulder.

But Harvey wasn't paying attention anymore.

They knew about the phone. Someone might be targeting Mike.

Harvey felt like the world had tilted on it's axis. Things were going wrong and they were completely out of his control.

Trying to focus on the matter at hand he waited until the doctor had left the room after checking Mike over to turn and to look at his associate.

"How ya doing?'' He asked cutting to the chase, ignoring his inner panic.

"I was doing fine but that was until he said someone might be after me." Mike said sarcastically.

Harvey winced internally. Stupid question.

"Well I meant how are you feeling physically but we can get right in to the hard stuff." Harvey paused for a minute. "Do you know anyone who might have something against you?"

Mike gave a humorless laugh.

"Oh you mean everyone? Everyone from before I came to the firm hates me, the other associates can't stand me. There's a dozen people on any given day that would like to see me 'get what I have coming to me', the only question is which one would like to see me dead." Mike muttered angrily.

Harvey wished he could say he was shocked that the associates hated Mike but he'd seen the way they treated him.

"Do you think it could be one of those drug dealers Trevor was dealing for?" Harvey asked pulling up a seat.

Mike exhaled harshly, shaking his head.

"They were after Trevor and you were able to fix that. Besides if someone was really after me then they would have been following me. Trying to get to know my schedule. I left an hour early to get to work on time. It could have just been an accident. Probably someone getting an early start on their hangover." Mike reasoned, leaning his head back on his pillow.

He looked even more exhausted than he had the day before. Harvey wasn't surprised

"They could have been watching your apartment, seen you leave early and decided to make their move." Harvey told him, not liking the idea but having to consider it.

Mike barked out harsh laugh.

"Oh that's so much better." He said sarcastically, glaring at Harvey.

"It's not a pleasant idea but we have to consider all the option."

"Harvey." Mike said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "I need you to stop being a lawyer for a moment, okay? I don't need my lawyer calmly telling me what my brain has already considered. I need my friend to be here helping me not go out of my mind with worry. I need you to distract me from all the possibilities. Just until I get better. Okay?" Mike asked opening his eyes and looking at Harvey pleadingly.

Harvey paused for a minute before nodding.

"Yeah, of course."

There was a moment of awkward silence. They never really talked that much about anything other than work.

Harvey took this moment to approach the subject he'd been trying to not think about.

"So," he said nonchalant. "What's going on with your phone? That officer mentioned something about it."

On the outside Harvey looked calm and collected if not a little bit curious. But that was it.

On the inside his heart was beating quickly, nervousness pooled in his stomach and he was forcing himself to breath normally.

What had happened when he'd been gone?

"I asked the nurse for it this morning, to check and see if anyone had called but she said she hadn't seen it. She looked through my stuff," He pointed toward the bag in the corner, "But it wasn't there. She asked the doctor when he came in but he said he hadn't been paying attention to it. So I asked Officer Donovan about it. He was one of the officers on site. He said that he wasn't the one to bring my stuff over. He checked with the one who did but the guy is swearing up and down he put it in my shoe for safe keeping. Donovan thinks he misplaced it, says the guys a rookie."

Harvey tried not to let his relief show. They didn't know he had taken it.

As that information set in he thought about his options and saw his opportunity.

"He could have misplaced it or it could have fallen out somewhere on the way over here. It's a high stress situation. Easy for things to get lost." Harvey said pursing his lips. Playing his roll perfectly.

If he could get things to work out he could throw out the phone and never have to think about it again.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Mike admitted, head tilting in consideration.

"Hopefully they'll find it." Harvey lied patting the hand he could reach.

"So have you hit on an hot nurses?" He asked changing the subject, giving Mike a shit eating grin.

Mike let out a startled but genuine laugh for the first time today.

"Oh yeah did you see the night nurse? I usually don't go above sixty but for her? Oh yeah."

Harvey laughed along, glad for the chance in subject.

He'd worry about throwing out the phone later. Right now he was going to focus on getting to know his associate better.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave some feed back and have a lovely day.


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